"Ye
that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints;
he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the
righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord,
ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness." Psalm
97:10-12
While we know that we are suppose to love our enemies
(Matthew 5:44), there is a clear indication that we are NOT suppose to
love sin, or evil. The saying "Love the sinner, hate the sin," has very
biblical grounds. We are NOT called to be "tolerant" or accepting of
sin, but we are called to walk at peace with all men (Hebrews 12:14),
and we are also called to season our words accordingly (Colossians 4:6),
which means make our words palatable, even words of rebuke, and we are
also called, in ALL
things, to cultivate
the fruits of the Spirit, which does NOT include wrath. Contrarily, we
are called to longsuffering, gentleness, and meekness as our Lord
demonstrated during His ministry on earth, even to the cross.
Hate sin, hate evil, yes, but shew forth temperance, longsuffering,
meekness, and gentleness in ALL thing, actions AND words, even in words
of exhortation or rebuke. Wrath and anger are NOT our calling, NOR our
responsibility. Wrath is God's place alone. May other people's sins
break our hearts to the point of effectual fervent prayer (James 5:16)
and tears of sorrow for THEIR sake, rather than make us angry. We do NOT
need to take offense for God, God does NOT need us to "back Him up" in
an argument. Yes, stand firm, but be on the offensive, and do not
advance the cause of wrath or strife. God can defend Himself just fine
without our help, it is only our duty to stay within the boundaries He
has given. ♥
Hate sin, hate evil, yes, but shew forth temperance, longsuffering, meekness, and gentleness in ALL thing, actions AND words, even in words of exhortation or rebuke. Wrath and anger are NOT our calling, NOR our responsibility. Wrath is God's place alone. May other people's sins break our hearts to the point of effectual fervent prayer (James 5:16) and tears of sorrow for THEIR sake, rather than make us angry. We do NOT need to take offense for God, God does NOT need us to "back Him up" in an argument. Yes, stand firm, but be on the offensive, and do not advance the cause of wrath or strife. God can defend Himself just fine without our help, it is only our duty to stay within the boundaries He has given. ♥
No comments:
Post a Comment